Trends and Great People
by Retro Frost
Summary: History and the Progression of civilization are usually affected by 2 things: Trends/Forces and Great People. When the 9th Roman Legion disappeared from our world, it found itself in theirs. With one change many more come along with it. Naruto has a twin sister, and she is no more similar to her brother than the Roman world is to the Ninja one. Betas needed. Rated M for Violence.
1. A Collect Call from a Nigerian Prince

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction. I do not own or claim to own the Naruto franchise. Lawyers remember the Streisand effect and sue someone else.

Things you need to know before the start of this chapter:

Places and locations: Caledonia is commonly used Roman name for Scotland

Basic Legion Structure: An army is made up of a contubernium, centuries, cohorts, and legions.

Contubernium: holds 8 men this is the basic unit of housing, unless a couple have been killed.

Century: Made up of 10 Contubernium means 80 men counterintuitively

Cohort: Made up of 6 Centuries

Legion: Made up of 10 cohorts

Other Notes: I know that doesn't equal 6000, but there are some other rules and fuckery that cause it even out.

* * *

Augentum Lake, Caledonia

156 AD Spring, Morning

"Wake up boys and men, we have morning muster in 30 minutes. Hey Caius get up" A friendly voice said rousing a boy out of his sleep.

"What?" Caius said sleepily to his master, Arminus.

"I said we have morning muster in 30 minutes, moreover have you finished those building plans for the aqueduct pillars over the lake?"

Caius sleepily pondered his masters request.

'I have finished everything, but I need check the design again, it seems like Arminus is in a good mood so I can lay off checking that off until later.'

"Uhh, they're done, but I need to recheck some of the bases that are being dropped into the lake."

"Fine, have them to me by sundown, Furianus get up!"

Caius sighed as he accepted his fate, of losing his free time midday to check calculations. Caius finally stood up and stretched. It was hell on his back sleeping on a cot day in and day out, but he had gotten used to it. It certainly was different that his bed back in Rome.

Not wanting another berating. Caius got up and put his work tunic and braccae(shorts). Braccae were a new concept to him, he had never had to wear them back in Rome. His toga or robes were always enough in Italia. However, the waist high thistles here dictated the need for braccae.

Caius having finished putting on his clothes left the sanctuary of his tent and formed up with the rest of his contubernium. They then marched out and towards the center area of the camp. Nearly seven thousand men met in this area every day.

Caius was tutored under the guidance his master, Arminius Fabius; a member of the illustrious Fabian family. He was a member of the newly formed twenty-first special engineering legion, formed by the Emperor Trajan. The goal of the legion was to help with unconventional and massive building projects. However, the legion was only at half strength of a normal 6000 man legion. They were protected by the ninth legion of Hispania who had been dispatched to guard them on this mission and provide manual labour for the twenty first.

The twenty first legion was made up 3 cohorts that each had a purpose: Design, Trade Skill, and Labour. Caius was a member of the design cohort, they designed everything that would ever be constructed by the twenty first. Trade skills focused on having the skills necessary to construction, from stone masons to blacksmiths to even carpenters were included in this legion. The final cohort was the labour cohort, these men were skilled in the manual labour that was needed to construct super-structures.

Everyone in the legion had been trained in the arts of war. They were all capable soldiers even Caius was trained in combat. They had all been vigorously trained from endurance runs and marching, to setting up defense and camps. He was a soldier even at the young age of 11, not a very good one, but a soldier none the less. He and the other 3 apprentices of Arminus were all aspiring architects and our inclusion was at the direct request of Trajan.

The Emperor Trajan had sought out to begin the conquest and romanization of the edge of world, Caledonia. Caledonia, a region situated north of the Roman Britannia had avoided conquest for nearly 150 years since the invasion of Britannia by Emperor Claudius. Caledonia was populated by athletic, red haired, barbarians who organised themselves into primitive tribes. The densely packed marshes and hills made inroads into the region nearly impossible.

However, they were going to change that soon with a new method, they were going to construct a central city in the center of the country and build a network of roads through the mountains and begin to slowly conquer and romanize the natives. Caius and the twenty-first were in the middle of the process of constructing the city.

"Legionaries at attention!" Yelled the Centurions.

The Legate walked onto an elevated wooden stage and turned to face the two legions. The Legate was a gruff man who stood nearly 5,10. He had a stare that could trim grass and frighten lions. He turned toward the mass of men in front of his wooden stage.

"Legionaries, Britons, and other allies of Rome! We still continue the work that has been bequeathed to us by the imperator. We will continue our work on the great city of Novum Caledonia. Briton allies soon you will see a beginning of the end of the raiders from the north. When we complete this city we will soon have conquered the end of the world. So my friends and comrades are your willing to help me with this endeavour!?"

The Legionnaires responded with a resounding yes.

"Now go to your centuries and begin todays work!" The Legate finished.

They mass of men split up into different centuries Caius included. A century was a unit of 80 men who were lead by a centurion. The centurion who lead Caius's century was a greek man named Timon Theophileos. He was a freedman who had originated from the greek city of Corinth, he had a strange obsession with different cheeses, but besides that he was a normal greek.

A line formed in front of the Timon who diligently doled out duties for the day. Those who cared about their time quickly found their way to the front of the line. The remainder who didn't care slowly formed behind the first group. Caius managed to find himself in between the two dichotomies of people who up the line was composed of. Timon managed to swiftly assign jobs and send off legionnaires.

Caius moved forward with the rapidly shortening line until it was his turn to have a job assigned.

"Caius Nonus" Timon muttered to himself as his eyes scanned a piece of papyrus, until they stopped and focused on a single point.

"I need you to go out to the lake and recheck our measurements for depth for accuracy." Caius nodded and walked away towards his tent.

'Welp I guess I won't be getting those plans to Arminus anytime soon. I will probably be out on the lake the whole day, might as well get started soon.' He walked to the boathouse, the only way on and off of the island. It was a crudely constructed affair, the roof wasn't water tight, the front entrance way had collapsed 3 times over the past month and one of the 'reinforced' piers that jutted out into calm water split in half and floated away.

The boatmaster was a gruff latin man who always had a look of detestment on his face.

"What do you want boy?" he sneered.

"I have orders to measure the depth of the lake with lead weights."

"Well hurry up and get to work." The boatmaster said before he walked off to deal with a legionnaire who was fumbling with a set of paddles.

Caius sighed, it was going to be a long day, Methodically he grabbed himself a set of paddles, lead weights, and a piece of bread. He picked a small rowboat and rowed all the way over to the shore of the lake and began measuring every 10 paddles.

By midday he had completed 2/3ds of distance, it was perfect time for a nap and a snack. He finished his piece of bread, and anchored himself down in place and slept.

* * *

It was hard work teaching 4 pupils, the Scipione brothers were always trouble, Furianus was a smug little bastard that needed to be beaten into the ground to keep his ego in check, and Caius never applied himself besides what was absolutely necessary. All of his pupils were extremely talented, but they each had their own flaws to overcome and inners demons to fight.

"Arminus, can you let me just check Caius's work, he is still out on the lake and is probably napping. I should finish what he started so we can keep getting work done." Furianus prodded. Furianus always attempted to out perform Caius. It caused problems, but also drove the two children.

"I bet a no will be your answer Furianus, what say you Muscius" Cato Scipio interjected.

"Most definitely a no" Muscius Scipio respond. The two brothers were also twins, and so they acted very much in tandem with each other.

"Shut it, Cato" Furianus retorted.

"Calm down all of you guys, now Furianus have you been slaving away on those plans for 2 weeks straight. Do you know every single detail of those plans?" Arminus said.

"No, but I could memorize them!"

Arminus held up his hand to silence the pupil.

"When could a detailed and intimate knowledge ever be beaten by a rushed head." Arminus turned around and left his pupils to bicker among themselves. They were stuck in the mud until Caius was finished measuring the lake, but the lazy boy was probably asleep in his boat. There was greatness in all of his pupils, but they all needed to overcome their flaws.

The legate would not be pleased with the delays, but their wasn't much that could be done until those measurements were completed. He would have to report the delay to the centurion, hopefully the legate wouldn't tear out Timons throat. He found Timon watching over some younger legionaries drilling.

"Timon, we have been unable to make progress today because Caius has not finished measuring the depth of the lake. If you think the legate is going to punish you then I will punish Caius severely to make up for it"

"No its not a problem. The legate is aware that all of the legions are behind in their work. There are delays everywhere, the legions are becoming too comfortable of being in camp year long. They're going to be some punishments tomorrow and many brand new 'activities' for the legions to partake in." Timon replied and left with a chuckle.

That did not bode well for the well being for anyone at all.

* * *

Things were getting colder and colder, the water was cold and he could hear it. He must have fallen in!

Caius jumped up with a yell as he tried to jump away from the water. He only managed to hit his hand on the wooden hull of the boat.

"Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaooooohhh" He yelled while hopping around in pain rocking the boat in such a way that he fell into the cold lake water. He came up with a splutter and struggled back onto the boat. Now he truly cold, and now it was just then that he noticed the soupy fog that surrounded him. He had no idea which direction was towards home.

"Well I guess the gods do not favor me today." He muttered to himself as he fell into his mind.

'Alright calm down Caius you simply just have to wait out the fog it shouldn't be too long until the fog clears.' and so he waited. The adrenaline that had filled his blood streams began to dilute and his tired body fell back asleep.

Caius slept peacefully, until the wind picked up and his wet clothes began to cause him to freeze. This awoke him slowly. It was now night however, fog still surrounded the boat.

'This is almost as cold as the cold bath in a bath house, I remember an old man once froze to death because he spent too much time in the cold bath. Wait its already dark! and the fog hasn't cleared? Minerva help me, I am in for a really bad night'

He laid himself down in the very bottom of the boat to shield himself from the wind, which would have been effective except the wind was picking up to the point that boat began to rock and expose him to wind at oscillating periods. This was the final straw and swearing to himself, Caius attempted to row anywhere. He was impeded by the anchor which he pulled up swiftly, and he began to paddle furiously.

The wind was now howling now and all he could hear now was the wind as it raced around him. His constant paddling had the unintended effect of heating him up enough that he was no longer hypothermic, however the wind now threatened to capsize his boat which in these waters was almost certain death.

'I am definitely going to die here, Mother, Father I am sorry for failing to carry on the family. I hope the honor of our family will live on in my younger brother Titus.'

As Caius was making a final peace within himself ready to journey over to the next land, the wind picked up. He felt his boat being picked and lifted into the air.

'The gods are surely displeased! I will reform your hear my plea, please spare my life and I will spend the rest of my life towards spreading the influence of Rome.'

It was the last thought he had that day.

* * *

"What brought upon this storm!" Arminus yelled to his compatriot Timon. The duo were standing on the banks of the lake waiting for Caius to return. The wind was currently buffeting them to such a degree that they had tied linen ropes to ground to keep themselves in place.

"Zeus is surely displeased, but I have no idea how to placate such fury!" Timon yelled back, he had to jump to dodge a flying piece of driftwood that clattered past him.

"I don't think we are going to go unscathed from this incident!"

"Probably, we should head inland to avoid debris, Caius will be fine in his boat! It is us who need cover to survive this night!" Timon yelled as he grabbed and pulled Arminus away from the coast as a piece of drift smashed itself into bits in place Arminus stood seconds before.

'Caius better come back alive or his parents will kill me.' Arminus thought as he ran back to his tent. The whole roman camp was in total disarray, tents had fallen over and fires spewed out of control fed by gale force winds.

"Look! The fires of Vulcan have fallen on the earth!" A panicking Legionare screamed and ran away from the area he was pointing to. Flaming tornados were ravaging the ground where he had pointed any object the suctioned up was burned to crisp by the time it was launched out the top.

Lightning began to dance across the sky and fall to the ground hitting wooden structure with a crack and setting them alight. If it was not clear before now it was clear as day to extent at which Jupiter was willing to show his displeasure.

Many legionaries lost their mental fortitude and panic began overtake the men as they fled from area to area. The howling of the wind was as loud as a pack of wolves surrounding him. The light of lightning in sky soon outshone the sun in intensity. However, a soon as it had come the wind died down to almost nothing, leaving only the sounds of mens screams and thunder to echo through the camp.

"WHOOOOOSH!" A great light erupted all around the camp as fire surrounded the borders of the island and raced up into the sky. The whole island was inside a massive fire tornado that whipped around wildly in the sky.

'The gods have wrought a great punishment among us. All hope is lost all I can do now is make a sacrifice for Caius who is already outside this disaster.' Arminus thought as he ran to his tent where he kept his belongings. Not a single soul was inside the tent as much better shelter would have been easier to find elsewhere. Jumping down to his sack, he rummaged furiously until he came upon a beautifully crafted ivory and gold dagger.

'Helen, you gave this to me in hopes that I would only have to use it to save a life. Now I must use it for how it could only save a life.' Arminus grabbed his dagger and began to run to nearest fire tornado.

The tornado was surprisingly still for a spinning pillar of fire and death. Arminus stopped before the pillar of fire.

"Jupiter, hear my plea. Accept this sacrifice and please protect the lives of all my students." Arminus said before he threw the dagger into the pillar. The spot where the dagger was thrown in brightened to the point where it was as bright as the sun in the North African desert. The spot began to uplift and spread the light up the pillar into the sky where it exploded into light. Arminus felt a searing pain behind his eyeballs and collapsed to the ground clutching his head, eyes shut.

The pain eventually dulled and disappeared, allowing for Arminus to open his eyes. The tornados were gone and the lighting no longer lit up the sky. The only fire that remained was the fires caused by out of control campfires and several burning watch towers. Arminus sighed and returned to his tent where he pulled up a stool and sat down. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The rest of the night passed as a blur to Arminus. The 3 legionaries who were part of their tent group returned first: Tiberius, Varus, Scaevolus were their names, all three were grizzled veterans of Agricolas expedition to Caledonia. All three were relatively unscathed considering the events.

Next to arrive were the Scipione Twins, both had scorch marks on their tunics, but were all in good shape. The two seemed a little rattled by the event, their synergy disrupted by the events that had occurred. The two talked over each other, and were sluggish and even a little off balance compared to their usually insync and somewhat creepy selfs.

Finally the last to arrive was Furianus, who was in the worst shape with several chest wounds being bandaged over and having lost a good half of his upper tunic. His chest had several scrapes and some raw flesh exposed. He didn't even bother to mutter some smart alecky comment as he just collapsed into his bed roll.

Timon visited briefly while chewing on a piece of hard cheese. He was counting heads to determine the casualties suffered during the fire storm. When learning about everyone being accounted for except for Caius he simply sighed and marked one notch on a wax plate he was carrying around and left.

The night eventually morphed into dawn and with the heat of the sun, the fog that had built up disappeared, with the fog disappearance Arminus finally had the visibillity he needed to find his lost pupil so he just stood up and left to scout around the beaches of the island.

The amount of debris that scattered the beaches simply astounded Arminus. Legionnaires were everywhere collecting and disposing of the debris into piles to be processed. He simply strolled by the piles and the men ordered to fill them. He walked by the debris that turned the beach into a hazard. He continued to walk for a good 50 minutes looking out to the lake for the sight of the boat out on the water.

Arminus walked slowly over the beach until a rocky crag impeded his progress along the coast. The crag was made up of massive grey boulders of stone, that had the appearance of being smashed together. The imposing of the boulders must have prevent any legionnaire from checking inside the crag.

'I can probably get a very good look across the lake from atop that crag' Arminus thought to himself before he began his attempts to climb the crag. The steep vertical slope of the rocks made direct attempts at climbing impossible, however a body shaped chasm between some of the boulders allowed for a indirect ascent. He placed his back against one wall and walked up the other wall. In this method Arminus managed to ascend the wall which was nearly 3 men stacked upon each other tall.

"That took was harder than it should have been." he muttered to himself as he breathed heavily. Now that he was high up he should be able to spot Caius easily. Looking out over the horizon Arminus had a hard a time orienting himself to the well known locations of the lakeside to find the corridor that Caius would have been weighing in. Eventually he found that he was in the corridor that was directly in front of him.

"Bang!" a large nose emanating from under Arminus almost had him jump off of the boulders. Looking below him he saw a wooden rowboat, inside the rowboat was Caius slumped over the back hull of the boat.

"Caius!" He yelled as he jumped down into the boat. The boy remained unresponsive although a light snoring could be heard from the boy.

'He looks ok, nothing seems to bent in the wrong direction and nothing looks out of place. Wait what's that on his back' Arminus approached and examined the back of the sleeping boy. The tunic on his back was burned in 3 interlocking circles, inside the burns each of the circles was tattooed on the skin of Caius, one colored black, one light blue, one light green.

"Ok, that was definitely not there before, but never mind that" Arminus maneuvered the boat out of the Crag and onto to the beach.

"HEY! Can anyone help me get this Legionnaire back to camp!" He yelled over to some legionaries who were combing the beach for debris. They ran over quickly and helped Arminus to carry Caius to doctors tent.

"So your telling me that this boy was stuck outside the camp during the firestorm and this is the condition he is in." The doctor asked skeptically as he examined the body of Caius.

"Yeah, he was slumped over a rowboat. If you don't believe me I can show you where it happened." Arminus replied.

"I'm not doubting you, its just that his wounds seem to indicate that no burns were inflicted upon him except in the ring pattern on his back, and from what we all saw that isn't very likely. I don't believe in any gods, so allow me to suspend my disbelief in that it was simply divine intervention. He must have avoided the burns by being sucked up by one of those tornados outside the wall of fire, the rowboat must have protected him and the tornado eventually dissipated and he fell back to earth hence the bruises on body. He will be fine, now I have more patients to attend to you. So hurry up and clear the bed so another patient can take the place of Caius. " The doctor finished as he walked away to treat another patient.

Arminus now noticed much to his chagrin that the two men that had helped him carry Caius here had already managed to escape without notice leaving only Arminus to carry his downed pupil. Sighing he hefted Caius over shoulder and began the arduous walk back to his tent.

After a good 30 minute walk he had arrived at the tent and laid Caius down in his bedroll.

"Jesus that kid is heavier than he looks." Arminus said as he plopped down by the fire near the rest of his tent, breathing heavily.

"Or maybe you are just weak, I mean you are an architect and not a soldier first." Tiberius offered with a cheeky smile.

"Bah" was the only response Arminus could offer between his breathed.

"Hey Arminus, I heard you found Caius is he unharmed." Timon had appeared near the group that surrounded the fire.

"Wow, I guess we really lucky this time, with Caius accounted for brings our centuries casualty count down to zero. I have been hearing similar things to the other centurions and cohort leaders that no one has seemed to take any measurable casualties. Well I gotta go report this to our cohort leader so you guys at muster tomorrow, also all duties are cancelled today. If we take no casualties I'll indulge myself on some of that amazing alexandrian cheese I have " Timon said before he sped to do whatever Timon did when he wasn't leading everyone.

The rest of the day passed as a blur as the rest of his tent mates just sat around a low burning fire, getting up to feed it every once in a while, and on a rare occasion a moan or a groan would heard from the tent as Caius tossed and turned inside his bed roll.

Fog had encircled lake shortly after he had found Caius and insulated the camp and the surrounding water like they were in bubble. All he had now was the hope that they wouldn't be popped by a sharp rock or a vine in a rosebush.

* * *

Caius was not a happy camper, not only had been picked up and tossed around like a ball, but he was then dropped back to earth hike a boulder falling from a tall mountain. Now he was here, he had no idea where here was, but he was here.

Here was a place that was completely white all around, it felt as is if the gods gathered here themselves to rest. Here was a relaxing place, but yet it had a disturbing feel to it. Whispering voices surrounded him from all places: the ground which he stood upon, all directions around him, and even above him. He knew the voices were talking about him, but he didn't know what they were saying.

"QUIET" He yelled at the wretched voices to stop, however his shout seemed to not even faze nor draw the attention of the voices. They just continued to talk in that little wretched voice they all had.

'Minerva please, I know I have been asking for favors lately, but its just been an unlucky few days so please any kind of help or guidance would be appreciated.' Caius prayed to Minerva as hard as he could although he hard a time staying focused he eventually though she got the message.

So he waited and waited. Her help would have to show up eventually so he would just be patient like his parents had always taught him.

Soon after what had seemed like an eternity, he eventually stood up and punched the side of his white prison before he felt a breeze, no it t was more of whirlwind that was going to blow him over. He tried to fight the wind, but it eventually overpowered him sending to the floor, painfully. When Caius sat up the wind was gone, and a man stood a couple paces away that he instantly recognized, although not from personal experience.

"Are your really who I think your are" Caius stuttered out as he stood up and slowly approached the man.

"Yes, it is me Caius. Hello my name is Cincinnatus." The man said with a smile.

* * *

Post Chapter notes

This idea has been swimming around in my head for a quite a while now, like 3 months two weeks ago, hopefully it has had enough time to soak inside the mental juices of my head. I image it as being like wine, cheese, and superhero lunch boxes, giving it enough time to soak allowed it mature, harden and general become more of a solid idea and concept. I have already mostly written the other chapter, but I will post that after I have the third chapter finished as to keep a buffer ready and to prevent dry spells for you guys. By the way if any you guys would willing to help me beta read this, the help would be appreciated. I would like it if any ancient rome experts helped correct me on the probably tons minor of faults in the this. If anyone sees any major errors please either leave a review or message me and I will correct it quickly, and also how do you all think I did with the introduction and basic characterizations. Thats all for now, and hopefully this will lead to long running and healthy series.


	2. Bureaucrats are the Best Warriors

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction. I do not own or claim to own the Naruto franchise. Lawyers remember the Streisand effect and sue someone else.

Things to look out for: I have based the battle on a real battle although there is a couple of changes.

Gauls: People that inhabited France before the Franks, from whom the land got its name. These people were often used as aids to help fight with core Roman legions.

Regular voice.

Thoughts and words depending on context.

"Inner body voices"

Caius's Mindscape, Unknown

Time: Unknown

Mouth agape, Caius took a moment to find the words that had gotten lost in his brain. This could only mean that Cincinnatus was a guide for him. He had heard about it in all the stories his parents told him.

"W-why me? If you are who you say, then shouldn't you be guiding someone more worthy? I mean there's gotta be people way braver, smarter and stronger than I." Caius said, a little unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"All will be explained, just hold tight. Here, take a seat. Now onto that explanation present by me Cincinnatus" A chair appeared under Caius who sat, mouth still agape.

'You didn't have to announce it out loud,' Caius thought as he began to realize how ridiculous this situation seemed. This was the famed hero of the Roman Republic and he was kind of a weirdo.

"Umm...kid, one helpful hint. Since we are in your mindzone right now, I can hear what you are thinking," Cincinnatus mentioned.

"Sorry!" Caius yelled.

"Alright, here's the hard truth kid. You have been transported to a new world, and what that means is that you are lost to all of Rome and you can never return. The Gods have had nothing to do with this, or at least that's what they told me when they sent me over here. Minerva is a pretty nice goddess, if you are one of her interests. I'll give you a moment now to ponder this intense fact."

'How is he so nonchalant about this? Does this mean my family's gone?! That fucker just dismissed my family being gone!'

"Alright, self contemplation time over. You are special in regards to everyone else who was transported here. You are different, for you are the medium between the old world and the new world and now you must learn what it means to be such. Now go! You have to wake up and get ready for the day you have tomorrow. Wow that was a snappy introduction, I am going to be great at this spirit guide stuff." Cincinnatus walked up to Caius and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall back and hit his head.

The first the thing he remembered consciously was the smell of burned wood and leather that assaulted his nostrils. The next thing he experienced were the voices of Furianus and Cato as they argued over something trivial. He let out a loud groan as he rubbed his own back which ached as if beaten by a cane. The two silenced themselves.

"Caius, you awake?" Furianus asked.

"No," he replied as he tried to stretch out the pain in his back.

"Hey Arminus, Caius just woke up!" Furianus yelled out of the tent. Caius clutched his head .

"Shut up! You're so loud right now. Why do you have to be so loud in the morning..." Caius trailed off as he tried to fall back asleep.

"Caius how are you feeling today?" the voice of Arminus sounded over him.

"Tired. I'm tired and I don't want to move," Caius replied, getting more and more annoyed.

"Well I guess you are going to have a long day ahead of you. We have muster in five minute. Plus, we have some pork and beef cooking for breakfast." The last part of that statement took a second to process, and once it did Caius shot straight up sniffing the air.

"Now that was just cruel!" Caius remarked. There were only hot oats.

"Whatever it takes to get you out of bed. Get your sandals on quick we have muster starting right now." Arminus said before he walked out of the tent.

Caius slowly slipped his sandals on and fastened them. He grumbled and complained the whole way to the muster point.

When compared to the group of men that had assembled here, the one that currently held its place seemed as if it was bad copy. Burned clothes and equipment seemed to be the new 'in fashion' if one only looked at this group. The legate quickly walked up on stage and began his speech.

"ROMANS, BRITONS, AND ALL WHO FOLLOW THE CALL OF ROME, HEAR MY WORDS! I have had a dream brought to me by the second founder of Rome, Marcus F. Camillus. Romans, look around! Do these mountains look like the ones we have seen for the past year as we worked to create a new city of light?" He paused and watched as men everywhere started to look and realize to their horror that they were indeed in a different place than where they used to be. A few men almost let loose screams from their mouths, but the shame of such an act kept them in check. The eyes of all the young men darted back to the legate.

"Now we are trapped in a new world where it is impossible to return to Rome by any amount of walking or sailing. Our only choice now is follow the destiny given to us by the Gods. We must leave this place, lest whatever event brought us here happen again. We must journey out and create ourselves a new home. Your centurions have been given specific instructions on how to proceed. Stay strong my fellow Romans and nothing will overcome us! This new world will soon feel the mark of Rome!" The legate finished before walking down and leaving the platform.

Caius then walked over to Timon where the century was grouped up. Timon stepped on a log and spoke.

"Alright men, we have been chosen to be one of the first units in the column. We will be boarding rafts and trailing Gallic and German auxiliaries who will cut us a path through the foliage. So everyone pack up your gear and meet me by the south shore in an hour," Timon said before he stepped down and walked off to begin packing.

Caius and the rest of his contubernium met at the tent and quickly took it down. They packed all of their cooking gear and bed rolls, making sure the weight was equally distributed between them all. They finished packing up and they all walked to the beach where they waited for the rest of the century.

The Gauls and Germans were already departing across the lake when Caius and company arrived. The rest of the century showed up 30 minutes early. They were all then carried across the lake rather swiftly, following behind the Gauls who easily cut a path through some foliage with their swords and leaving a clear path behind them. They marched in ranks of 4 wide as it a easily cut path. They proceeded very quickly throughout the landscape. The huge trees were widely spaced apart, only small shrubs blocked the path on occasion. They stopped and made camp when the sun was just licking the ground. Men continued to arrive into camp well into the night.

Once the camp was constructed, a couple of Augers created a shrine to Jupiter. Men walked by and dropped possessions of theirs near the shrine. At midnight, the still awake Augers gathered up all the possessions and tossed them into a massive bonfire. They chanted a prayer to the gods to offer support to them.

During the middle of the night, a strange fog descended upon the camp with seemingly no source. The fog's behavior was strange for it flowed in very peculiar ways and acted more like a living being. This was completely unnoticed by the exhausted legionaries marching into camp. The fog began to flow around and through some of the marching legionaries.

Caius awoke with a jolt of pain in his left forearm.

It felt as if fire had burrowed inside of his arm.

"Gaaah!" he groaned as he felt the fire spreading up his arm.

"Hey Caius, you feeling this thing as well?" he heard the pained voice of Furianus stutter out.

"Y-yeah, it feels like fire is spreading up my arm."

"I am feeling it as well," Cato grunted.

Caius tried to make a witty response, but the pain kept his mouth shut has he tried to keep himself from yelling. He soon fell unconscious.

Caius awoke to find himself back in his mindzone. Cincinnatus was just sitting in a wooden chair tipped backwards, chewing on an apple.

"So you're back. Time for more learning, I guess although I hadn't planned this far in advance." he said between one of his bites.

"Wait, can I talk to one of the gods personally?"

"No can do. The gods are a very might, busy bunch. Plus, you are only the medium between old humanity and this new world, the gods can't use you to traverse the gap" Cincinnatus replied before taking a massive bite out of his apple.

"Well then can you explain what's going on with this burning feeling and the power I felt in my arm?"

"Also no luck there either. I would say that probably your arm is on fire and you passed out from pain, but you would be panicking if you were on fire. I would also say some sort of power is flowing through your body and making a wreck of things. It happened to me once. Although since the gods and their powers again cannot cross through you to this side, it is unlikely if not impossible for that to be the case."

"What if it was a local god or some sort of local entity?"

"You think some sort of god is going to bestow power on you when you don't even know who to pray to?" Cincinnatus said as he took another huge bite out of his apple.

"Well you're no help whatsoever. Since you're dead, shouldn't you be enlightened? also what the hell is the AARP"

Caius asked. 'This is getting us nowhere. Why can't someone who thinks about this stuff for a living be here?'

"Remember I can hear your thoughts, and no because it's very complicated and would take an eon to explain."

Caius was about ready to wring Cincinnatus neck but he felt the wind pick up in his mindzone. The wind was at the strength when Cincinnatus was first brought to the mindzone. This time, however, a purple liquid began to form a body of a decrepit and ugly man with a walking cane. The man blinked in surprise and looked around the mindzone, eventually stopping and focusing on Caius.

"Hello, young man my name is Socrates. Do you have slightest idea of where I am right now?" the man asked. He had brown eyes that seemed to stretch on forever

"A Greek. You had to summon a Greek?" Cincinnatus questioned.

"Wait, I summoned him? How? and this Greek is the father of learning and questioning the world."

"Oh, no I am not that spectacular. I am just a feeble old man."'

"Nonsense! I have always admired your rational. Now will you help with a conundrum I am in?" Caius then proceeded to explain everything he felt relevant to the situation. When he finished, Socrates was silent for a minute before he began to speak.

"I believe that the power that you feel in your arm is one that is inherent to this world. It must be either dependent on or manifested of the people who live here. I guess that it must be like some sort of magic. If I were you, I would try to use this power that you have. However, do not overuse or attempt anything unreasonable with it. You do not know what this power's true purpose is. Now it seems like you are waking up. Go now and discover a new world," Socrates said before Caius felt himself begin to wake again as the dream world melted away.

"Caius! Caius! Caius, wake up!" Arminus raised his voice, which sounded like a war drum to Caius.

"What?" he responded irritably. His head felt as though a big bronze hammer had smashed it last night.

"What's with you guys? One little hike is all that it takes to put you in bed. We have to get going so that we don't hold up the whole army," Arminus said before he left the confines of the tent.

"Hey Caius, did what happened last night really happen?" the voice of Furianus said.

"Yeah, I think so. I feel like I was hammered by one of those giant Germans."

"Same. Here, let's get up and get going so Arminus doesn't kill us."

"Agreed. Let's get going," Cato said as he got out of bed. Muscius followed without a word.

The day went absolutely terrible. The exhausted boys had a hell of time trying to keep up with the marching paces at some times, and at other times almost went insane when the jungle got too thick and took a long time for the Germans to cut through. At the end of the day, he somehow managed to feel worse than when it had begun.

Caius had tried to call out the supposed power inside of him, but whenever he focused pain arched through his body and broke his focus. He slept like a bear whenever he got the chance, on the long march.

This same routine continued for the next couple days as they marched south. He began to feel better as time went on. His friends were all deathly quiet as the week proceeded, although he was as well so he had no right to complain about it.

It was on the 13th day that he found the routine he had gotten used to changed. Instead of having a quick century meeting, a general muster was held where every legionary and even auxiliaries met up. The legate stood on top of a collapsed tree as he addressed the men.

"Legionaries and auxiliaries, today an enemy army has been spotted near our camp. They have sent envoys demanding all our heads! They are inhabiting a small gully with dense forests on all sides except for one corridor, which the fools have not even fortified. They outnumber us 3 to 1. Men, prepare for battle and listen to your centurions instructions. They have been provided deployment details. Today we will march and show these vagrants the strength of Rome and her allies! MEN, TODAY WE FIGHT!" The legate finished as the legion exploded with cheers and rushed off to mount their armour and get their weapons.

Caius and company had their own armor and were official legionaries, so they would be fighting along with the men. They all put on their armor and shields, grabbed their swords, daggers and pilia, and marched to the meeting point for the twenty-first. Once they were all there, they marched through the deep trees until they were ahead of the ninth, which had lined up in the center of the grassy area with units of 2000 German and Gallic warriors on both sides of the 6000 man strong force of men. Artillery pieces were all set up and scorpion users had found a hill behind the main formation to use as a firing point. The 300 legionary cavalry and 700 mix up Persian and Briton chariots along with some Numidian cavalry was behind the formation of the legion.

The 21st engineering legion Had split off from the main force and now sat on a hill that overlooked the gulley. They all knelt down and watched from behind the camouflage of the forest. Within 10 minutes, the enemy force rushed out of their camp and began to form up on the battlefield. The army that they seemed to be facing looked like a mash up of a Greek army with a German army of raiders. A couple lines of spear men with columns of swordsmen out in front of them seemed to make up the army, although heavily armed cavalry and some heavily armored foot soldiers made up the first line of combatants. Archers seemed to be absent from the formation.

The legate rode his horse in front of his men.

"Romans wait until you are guaranteed a hit before throwing your pilum. Fight steadily and surely and the day will soon be ours. Do not think of loot while you battle, for when you win the day, then you can have it all. Take no prisoners nor slaves and fight well." The legate rode his horse back to the cavalry.

The general of the opposing army did the same thing to his army although his speech was more impassioned. His men yelled and cheered with such gusto that even a German horde looked disciplined compared to them. The opposing general eventually finished his speech, and the enemy army rushed toward the dead silent 9th legion.

The command 'Ready pilia' went out and men grabbed the javelins. They waited, waited, waited, and waited, and when it seemed the enemy would be upon them in an instant…

"HURL!" A wave of 6,000 spears flew out to the enemy army, utterly demolishing the front ranks. The first wave of heavily armored combatants slammed into the front ranks of the Roman line, and were rebuffed with such vigor that many fell on their backs and were finished with a swift stab of a gladius. The heavily armored cavalry was then drawn off by the faster Numidian cavalry that drew them into a pocket. Once there, the Persians rushed in with their scythed chariots that cut horses out from the bottom of their riders, leaving them stranded and vulnerable to the next pass that the Numidian cavalry took.

The Roman artillery caused chaos within the large blob of enemy forces that were trapped and pinched together by their advancing comrades in the back and solid wall of people in the front. Clay pots full of Greek fire exploded and covered men in the napalm like substance. The scorpions picked off groups of 1 to 2 men with each bolt they fired.

A whistle blew and the front ranks of the 9th legion swapped to the end to rest while the fresh front rank continued the fight. They only defended and took stabs at those that strayed or were pushed too close to the Roman line.

The enemy soldiers were no means incompetent either as the front ranks attempt to make space with Roman lines so they could stay out of reach of the deadly roman shields and swords. However, the flying pots of Greek fire and scorpion bolts caused those in the back to push forwards as they saw the front ranks were immune to the artillery barrage by virtue of being too close to the Roman front ranks.

Another whistle blow occurred and the front ranks switched back again. This occurred many times, before the Romans began to get pushed back by the weight of the enemies numbers. The massive amounts of bodies that littered the area were staggering, but the front ranks of the ninth began to tire as they continued to fight.

A large horn blow caused the commander of their Engineering legion, Lucius Torquatus to stand up.

"Alright men, let's advance! We have to aid our forces." Nobody moved a muscle. A paralyzing atmosphere held grip on every man.

"Come on, let's go!" He yelled again, this was an army made up of architects and other such professions turned soldier, not the other way around. The fear was so palpable Caius could almost taste it in the air. Caius then heard Cinncinatus's voice in his head.

"Grab the legionary standard and run."

'What?!'

"Grab the standard and run into the enemy rank, like Caesar's invasion of Britannia. This is the only way to secure victory for Rome and ensure your survival.' The voice of Cincinnatus stopped

'Fuck me...this is going to either be the best or worst thing I will ever do.' Caius eyed the legionary standard. It was held by a man, who was quaking in his boots, right in front of him. Caius leapt up and snatched the standard from his arms.

"WHAT?!" he yelled as he saw Caius run away with the standard.

"FOR ROME!" Caius yelled, which he thought that would be the right thing to yell as he ran out of the trees and towards the enemy ranks. He heard the yelling of other Legionaries as they stood up.

"FORWARD!" yelled Lucius, and Caius heard what sounded like an avalanche of metal behind him as he ran down the hill they had been situated on. As he approached, he saw the enemies in the back ranks turn with horrified expressions as they saw the wave of metal rushing at them.

Now Caius felt something inside him- a sort of intoxicating tingle in his body that almost urged to be used. He urged it to his legs and felt his speed pick up as he continued to run, faster, and faster, and faster. He urged more of the power to his arm as held up his scutum between him and the enemy. He impacted the enemy so hard that it caused a circle 20 men in radius to fall over caused by the overwhelming power and resulting human dominoes that occurred. He saw a man that was down and by pure instinct slammed his gladius down on the poor man's chest. It smashed through his armor and as he hit the ground, Caius pulled it out. He made sure that the standard he held with his shield bearing hand was safe. He then heard the metal avalanche of the 21st slamming into the rest of the enemy army.

He fought savagely as he let the instinct and the intoxicating nature of his power guide him.

Now that the enemy army had been flanked it had instantly been thrown on the defensive. The legate saw this was the perfect time for him to begin his offensive. He made a signal and a signaler made a drum beat that sounded like 3 hammer blows. The form of the legionary wall changed to point where it soon formed a serrated metal blade with red and gray teeth that began to advance and cut through the enemy formation. Men were either killed at the tips of the sharp teeth or herded down into the valleys where death was imminent.

It began with a single man who screamed, dropped his spear and fled. This made up the mind of a man who had been thinking something similar, who fled as well. Then a group of 4 men fled, then 10, then 50, then 100, then 300, then the whole right flank had collapsed under the dual assault from front and back.

Gallic warriors and 21st legion then wheeled around and attacked both the center and left flanks. These two both broke soon after.

Caius and the rest of the legion pursued the enemy as they fled back to their camp, killing any man they could get their hands on. It was then at this moment that all the cavalry and other mobile troops raced ahead of the pursuing legion and cut down the vast-majority of those that were fleeing.

Silently watching from a tall tree, two men stood side by side, one on official business and the other here of his own free will.

"It's hard to believe that such a small force could outmaneuver and destroy a coalition force containing 70,000 men of the Wind, Earth, Lightning and other minor daimyos. If you had told me about this, I wouldn't have believed it." the white haired one spoke.

"Did you notice something unusual with the unknown force?" the silver haired one asked.

"Yeah, although I don't know how, but most if not all of them lacked chakra. It should be impossible, but we have proof right in front of our eyes. There was one that used a burst of chakra the one who lead the assault of the back of the right flank," he replied.

"This is interesting and all, but I should probably head off now. The Hokage will need to know of this immediately if we are to take advantage of this development," the silver one said before he shot of through the trees back to Konoha.

'I guess I can spend some time shadowing this force,' the white haired one thought. As he watched from the tree branch

Although Caius had not killed anyone in the pursuit, he had followed them into the enemy camp. He then came upon a tent with a treasure trove of gold in it. He had snatched a large amount, enough to be shared with all his tent mates, and when he was leaving a sword caught his eye. More accurately, the handle caught his eye with a solid steel composition and ruby encrusted bottom. It had a shine like no other. The blade of the sword was rapidly switching before his eye, a faint blue light surrounded it. He grabbed a hold of it before it formed into a gladius. He left soon after and returned back to his tent, mind focused less on the sword and hoping for the safe return of his comrades.

They did return safely, although some had cuts on their arms or near their legs. Each had found similar stockpiles of gold and other things. Caius would not be sharing his gold, when everyone else had stockpiles similar or bigger than his.

"Caius what you did out there would probably have gotten you killed by your own side had it not been so crucial during battle, and it still might get you killed. Some large egos have been bruised, so keep your head down the next couple days until this all blows over," Arminus told the boy.

The day went by quickly after that, and with a hearty dinner they all fell asleep with content stomachs. The day after was a dull day with the only activity being mulling around camp, however it was not a total waste of time as Caius and the other guys had all gathered together to talk about the power. They all had used it in the battle, but they made a pact not to show their power off too much until they were sure what it was. The day went by quickly after that, and the day after that even quicker. The camp was mostly quiet as the couple of days past. However at the morning muster on 3rd day after the battle, an air of excitement permeated the camp. The legate got up on a speaking platform.

"Men of the ninth and twenty-first legions, today we have been offered a home. In the last battle, we were in combat with the nations of Wind and Rock and their tiny little minion states. There is, however, a state to the east, the Land of the Fire. It is the largest of all the nearby nations. The king of this realm has granted us our own chunk of land to rebuild our own Rome and expand our territory as we see fit. The condition of this is that we fight with the Fire King's wars when called. WHAT SAY YOU TO THIS DEAL?!" The crowd exploded with approval. "Now we have one last order of business today. We must learn about this land's people and customs if we are to be a player in their world. I wish for 3 contubernium to partake on this mission, each taking separate routes to our new home. Does anyone have any nominations?"

Predictably, the legion exploded with men chanting names. Within 3 minutes, 2 names ruled supreme. Gaius Suetonius, who was the next in line to inherit the responsibilities of leading the first cohort, and the other Publius Ciceronis Glabrous, who was a highly scarred veteran of many wars many thought to be the wisest man in the legion.

"You two! Come up here along with your conterbinum." The men shuffled through the mass before 16 men were upon the stage. "Now, there is one more that I have personally selected. You." He pointed where Caius was standing. Caius looked around to see who he was referring to.

"Yes, you boy. I saw you lead the twenty first down the hillside. You thought I didn't see you, but I did and I am rewarding your bravery." The legate said. Caius slowly walked through the crowd that had parted. He was first to arrive on stage followed by his other compatriots, Arminus, and the soldiers attached to them.

"What's your name boy?"

"Caius. Caius Nonus," he responded with enough confidence to hopefully not look like a weakling in front of the whole legion.

"Caius, that's like Gaius, but with a twist. Good name you have been given Caius. " He turned to the legions.

"These are the men and boys that will allow you all to flourish in this new world!" The legion exploded with approval.

"You are dismissed, except those I have selected. You will come with me to my tent so I can give you the details of your mission." Caius followed the legate as he left the stage and walked swiftly to his tent. Once everyone was inside, he began by handing everyone a map, a bag of supplies, and a book.

"This map details each general route your group will take. Publius will take the southern route, Gaius will take the upper route, and Caius will take the central route. Each of those books are your passports into the heavily defended cities. Do not lose them. The bag of supplies contains a large amount of the currency of the land. I suppose the gold you have also seized can be used in case you run out. Talk to as many people as possible and prepare to depart for you will all leave in an hour. You have the blessing of the priests, now go and show the world what Rome is capable of!" Caius took that as the signal to leave, and so he and his contubernium all left the tent.

When they had arrived back at the tent, he was congratulated by Timon who had dropped by before heading off to make sure preparations for the whole army to leave were being undertaken.

"Caius, do you know how lucky we are?!" Furianus yelled with excitement.

"Pretty lucky, I guess. But what's the big deal? All we have to do is walk through cities, maybe stay in some inns or even use a thermal bath. Seems pretty dull to me." He didn't understand how Furianus could be excited over something so menial.

"You don't get it do you? Firstly, we are heroes of a battle. Secondly, do you know how long we have been on campaign Caius? 11 months, Caius! We haven't used any of the baths, even in Londinium, in 11 months! Plus, we have been working hard for 11 months. We are nearly the definition of awesomeness in the eyes of Greeks. If these people are as civilized as we are led to believe, they will certainly have baths. Thirdly, all the girls will absolutely swoon over our awesomeness. "

"Plus, we have a lot of money to spend and time to perfect the you know what!" Cato added.

"We could also check out some of the libraries, to learn the stories of this land. I would like to visit the biggest city possible."

"I guess that sounds pretty fun" Caius murmured, but then a realization hit him. "I'll be 12 in 7 days. So yeah, this might be very fun!" Caius now packed with an energy. They soon were all packed up and waiting at the gate of the camp. The legate had come to see them off.

"Good luck with your journeys men and boys. Now be off and explore as much as possible."

"Let's go!" Furianus yelled and began to speed off.

"Furianus wait!" Cato yelled as he ran after him.

"The rest of us probably aren't as excited as you," Muscius said as he followed his brother.

"Hey,come one guys! Guys! Slow down Furianus!" Caius yelled as he raced to catch up with them.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Many thanks to Not Your Cup of Tea for betaing this

Apologies for the extreme delay in posting this chapter. I had the rough draft done, but I didn't want to post until I was sure I could begin to make updates in shorter timeframes. I had lost all my mojo, until I heard the Rhapsody in Blue and that brought it all flooding back. I have the whole story up to the chunin exams planned out to a reasonable degree now so updates should arrive at a speedier pace.


	3. Fun with Math and Discount Clark Kent

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction. I do not own or claim to own the Naruto franchise. Lawyers remember the Streisand effect and sue someone else.

Regular voice.

'Thoughts'

_"Inner body voices"_

Helpful Note: for those who are unfamiliar with Roman History

_I learned it through a combination of a few Podcasts_

Mike Duncan's History of Rome

Dan Carlins Punic Nightmares and Death throes of the Republic

Both wonderful sources for those who wish to learn more about this interesting period of time and overall very good storytellers.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

"Ok, explain to me again. Why and HOW DID YOU LIGHT MY CLOAK ON FIRE!" A birthday party had not gone totally according to plan when Muscius of all people had accidentally light Scaevolus's cloak on fire with the power, now the group of boys were receiving a scolding of massive proportions.

"It was an accident," Muscius replied in a flat monotone.

"An accident? How the hell do you accidentally light something on fire without any source?!"

"I think, I might be able to better phrase my brother's sentiment," Cato said as he stepped forward. He flashed a look of uncertainty to Caius before returning to his usual confident demeanor and launched into one of his many oratories."Well you see the prelude to this whole event occurred the first night off the island, which while you all slept peacefully we were assailed by a force beyond our comprehension," Cato then masterfully spun the a tale of unknowing, but responsible investigation of the power, in short total bs, "to conclude, I believe it was an accidental expulsion of this power from Musicus that result in Scaevolus's cloak being lit ablaze."

"Bullshit!" Scaevolus yelled while clutching the burnt remains of his cloak.

Arminus signed as he rubbed his temples, "Could one of you guys show me proof that these powers do exist?"

The boys had only recently figured out any practical use for the power, that being of attempting to stick leaves to their hands and or pick up clumps of dirt. These were laughably stupid, but they had to start somewhere didn't they? Cato and Furianus had not figured how to do the dirt and leave experiment yet with 100% completion so they could destroy the boys credibility with one bad attempt. Caius pondered this for a second before throwing up his hand.

"You can do something with this power Caius? Can you replicate what Muscius did? Because, this sounds very hard to believe," Arminus questioned as everyone turned to look at Caius.

"Yeah, well I need to know what Muscius 'did' firstly"

"I overloaded the material with the power," Musicus said as he gripped his shield.

"Well, then lets give it a shot. Scaevolus hand over your cloak to Caius," Arminus ordered.

"But, but" Scaevolus whimpered as he clutched his burnt cloak even harder than before.

"NOW!"

"Ok," Scaevolus handed off the cloak off to Caius and sunk back. Caius had to suppress a laugh at watching the grown man act like a child.

"Now get on with, or else the Centurion might hear of this," Arminus said with his tone firm.

Now was the time. Caius took a deep breath and felt a tingle begin to form up his elbow and crawl its way to his hand, he waited until he had a good pool built up in hand. He pushed it all into the cloak, and it took alight! Brighter than a oil lamp, it quickly burned through the fabric. Nobody said a word either through shock or uninterested.

"Doesn't your hand hurt Caius?" Muscius asked matter of factly. Caius hadn't noticed until he heard that, then he screamed.

"YEEOOOWWW" Caius scampered and dunked his hand in the nearby river. Everyone else followed him.

"Wait, Caius!" Scaevolus asked his face smothered with disbelief and confusion.

"Yeah," Caius answered as he soothed his hand in the water.

"Did you... How did... How long have you been able to do that." Tripping over the words Scaevolus asked.

"Since today apparently, by the way can we get going again? I am starving."

"Yeah, but you're going to have a lot to explain," Arminus said as he returned to path with rest of the group in tow.

"What else could you possibly want to know?" Caius asked as he tentatively pulled his hand out of the water and ran to catch up.

"Everything"

* * *

After a couple more days of travel they lay right outside of their first town. Arminus was giving last minute instructions as he handed out notepads and special styluses that put ink on the paper, they were called 'Pens'.

"Alright, explore and take as many notes of anything that stands out to you. Meet back at the east side of town by sundown. Be there on time," Caius walked away aimlessly at that.

The town was like nothing he had ever seen before, streets covered in market stands with people selling their wares. Smells of all kind assaulted Caius's nose as fragrances of cooking meat, baking bread, and many other unknown foods tormented his stomach. Brightly colored fabrics are sold in a multitude of vendors. Buildings as high as 5 stories stand above all others, people bustled around paying no mind to the armored boy.

"Hey you! Boy!" A man with a rat like face called. Caius looked around and seeing no other children nearby he turned.

"Me?"

"Yes, you who else?" The rat faced man said behind the counter of his shop.

"What do you want?" Caius said as he walked up to the counter.

"Nonono, you misunderstand my friend, it is not what I want, but what you need"

"How, can you know what I need?"

"It is clear you are not of this land, no? Anyway your line of work seems to be in the area of war, and my friend I deal with best tools for war."

"So what do I need according to you?"

"Well, you seem to be carrying a large pack around on your back, and you also seem to be not of this area so I offer you two solutions for your two problems you have. Here have a look at this," The rat faced man picked up a large book and set in front of him.

"This is book filled with much knowledge of this land and its people, it also has information on the... well unconventional areas of knowledge."

"Unconventional areas of knowledge?"

"Yes, the stuff an academic either would dismiss or throw up at the sight of, but us roughnecks find very interesting and helpful."

" I'll take it, and what else ya got for me?" Caius said as he dropped a gold coin in front of the rat faced who snatched it up greedily.

"Ah, yes this other item will astound you my friend" The rat faced man said as he pulled a scroll and rolled it out in front of Caius. The scroll was covered in symbols and lines all of which Caius had no idea of their purpose. The rat faced man picked up the book and placed it in the circle which seemed to be the focus of all the symbols and lines.

"Now, place your hand on the print there," there was a hand shaped outline near the bottom of the scroll. Caius place his hand on the print, and with a puff of smoke the book disappeared.

"What trickery is this?!" Caius yelled as he grabbed the collar of the rat faced man.

"None, at all my friend. Place your hand on the print again and be amazed," the rat faced man replied nonchalantly. Placing his hand on the print again, the book reappeared with another puff of smoke. Caius let go of the man's collar and picked up the book flipping through it.

"What is this sorcery?" Caius asked.

"It is not sorcery, merely a simple tool of the land. It can hold almost anything from a boulder to a bowl of soup, but I do not recommend storing anything living in there, lest it come out less functional that it went in, " Understanding the warning Caius placed the book back on the epicenter and placed his hand on outline and the book disappeared again. He took out two more gold coins and dropped them in front of the rat faced man who again snatched them up.

"Pleasure doing business with you, kind sir," the rat faced man pulled down a barrier and scurried out of his shop turning off the light as he went. Caius shrugged and walked away. Unseen to Caius, the rat faced man received more payment from a white haired man in an alleyway not far away.

Caius continued to explore the city until his stomach and nose colluded and drove him to a market stall that seemed to be selling a strange kind of food that seemed similar to the macaroni he had in Capua. He tried to read the menu, but all he saw was strange characters that he couldn't understand. He squinted his eyes, and characters formed into readable latin. He blinked, they were still in latin. He shook his head, and told himself to drink some more water.

"Can I take your order sir?" A woman with brown hair asked a notepad in her hand and pen in other.

"Uhhh, yeah what do you recommend for someone who isn't from around here?"

"Well," the woman turned around and looked at the menu, "the chicken ramen with tomato and other spices is very good," Caius frowned he didn't know some of the names for those ingredients.

"What is a tomaato?" He asked, thinking it must have been some sort of barbarian food.

"Tomato, you're not from these parts?" Turning around and facing Caius.

"Not any place you would probably know, what is a tomato again?" He said fiddling with a button on his armour.

"Well, I guess maybe not since you're dressed so weirdly, anyway a tomato is a vegetable that is red and tastes good," sighing Caius pulled out a gold coin.

'Thanks for answering nothing.'

"I'll take that Ramen with the tomato."

"Alright! Gramps! we need a Chicken Ramen with extra tomatoes!" She snatched up the gold coin and walked into a room behind the counter area. An old man with a funny looking hat walked out knives in hand.

"Sorry, my teenage granddaughter is a handful. I'll have your ramen ready in just a moment. I just have to grill some vegetables," he said as he took some ingredients and placed them on a flat shiny surface, they started to sizzle.

"What is that?" Caius asked intrigued by the shiny surface.

"Oh, this here" The old man pointed to the shiny surface. "This is an electric grill, had it for 10 years now. Well made piece of craftsmanship," he said as he used another metal tool to flip the ingredients on the grill.

"Electric? What is that?" Caius asked, pulling out his notepad and pen.

"You really are from a far away place, I guess the clothes aren't just some new fashion fad," The old man laughed before returning to flipping the ingredients. "Well, I guess its, an electric grill because it is powered by electricity, as opposed to a wood powered grill which is powered by wood," he said as he went into the back room and brought out a hot pan with steam rising out of it and set it out on the counter.

"What is electricity" Caius asked.

"Well, I guess it is... um, I really don't know how to explain it," he laughed again heartily. As he poured the steaming water and macaroni into a bowl and dropped the vegetables in. He picked up the bowl and set it out in front of Caius.

"I can give you the name and address of someone who would know," The old man said.

"That would be very nice," Caius responded as he broke apart the chopsticks. He had learned how to use them from Cato who had knowledge of their use, strangely.

"Here, his name and address, he should still be open so you could probably visit him today."

"Thanks," Caius replied distractedly as he pocketed the piece of paper. The bowl of ramen was vigorously eaten up in flash by the hungry boy, who said his thanks and rushed off to find the address of the man.

After bumbling through the town for what felt like an hour, Caius found himself in front of the house of this man who would teach him the secrets of electricity. It was an apartment like all the other ones in the town. He pulled his notepad and pen, two objects he had failed to use the entire day. Two solid knocks on the wood, and the most professional looking face formed, he waited thumbs twiddling.. The door opened and a man with black beard looked out. He blinked.

"Rob me tomorrow, I'm busy today," he said before slamming the door. Caius blinked, blinked again, and placed 2 more knocks on the wood. The door opened again and the bearded man stuck his head out again.

"Listen, if you're here to kill please just wait fifteen minutes and if I don't blow myself up then you have my permission to kill me," The bearded man moved the close the door.

"Wait!" Caius yelled.

The door slammed shut. Caius blinked, blinked again, and blinked again. He placed 3 knocks on the door. It opened again.

"Look, kid I ca-"

"SHUT UP! I'm not here to kill you, crazy old man, all I want to do is learn the secret of electricity!"

"What?" The bearded mans face had turned from annoyance to just confusion.

"I hear that you," Caius mumbled to himself before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. "Souta Nakahara! Are a master of electricity, teach me how to use this electricity!" Caius finished and pointed at the bearded man.

"This some kind of freaking joke, right kid?"

"NO!, no I really want to learn what electricity is?" Calming himself Caius continued on. "If electricity isn't a power that I can harness, then what is it?"

The bearded man sighed, "Come in, this will take a while. By the way what's your name again…"

* * *

"So what you're saying is that this electricity, is what lightning is made up of only less powerful and more useful and there are no magical properties associated with it," Caius asked taking notes.

"Essentially, but with even more utility. So Nonus-san what do you plan to do with this knowledge?"

"I don't know. And why did you add a san to the end of my name?" Caius asked.

"It is how I address you as a formal acquaintance. Nonus-san if what you say about Rome is true then I might find myself drawn to it whether, I want it or not. Best of luck to you and to your travels, hopefully we will meet again," Caius left the apartment and returned to the roads where the setting sun reminded him of the meeting place and closing deadline.

Arminus would not tolerate late deadlines, Caius shivered and picked up his pace up into a fast walk, then to a jog, then to all out sprint as he raced the sun chariot, each heading to their own direction one east, one west.

Arriving out of breath, he found the rest of the group waiting at the east gate.

"Barely, on time Caius. Now its time for a midnight stroll, we are behind schedule so we will make up the time in the night, the next town is a twelve hour walk from here," Arminus dictated in his taskmaster voice.

"Thats insane," Furianus muttered to himself.

"Well, better start making it saner before you end up in front of the legate, then you can complain about the insane working hours," Arminus threatened as he began to walk. The other adults snickered and followed him. Cato patted Furianus on the back and followed Arminus. Caius sighed and walked with Cato and Musicus.

'Oh, well I guess I got some of the cooler things compared to everyone else.' Caius thought to himself.

"Why, I am I the only who hates all this damn walking!" Furianus stood up and ran to catch up with his friends.

'We all hate it, you just yell more.' Caius thought as he picked a leaf of a tree and put it to his forehead.

* * *

After another week of hitting a new town everyday and walking the whole night, Arminus was satisfied with the progress and declared that the next town they would rest the day and night before setting out the next day. Over the couple day, the Romans had learned quite a lot about the people of the land. Some of the knowledge was very useful for example: Musicus immediately recognized the superiority of the place holding system of mathematical notation, although Caius had no idea what it was, the way Musicus explained it was less than detailed. Caius had found his electricity, book which included information about a strange group of people called shinobi, and he also had his item holding scroll which now held most of the heavy armor, weapons and other infrequently required pieces of equipment, and Furianus and Cato had made friends a plenty who had given them help along the way.

The next town they were set to come up to was one that was famous for hot springs and a relaxing demeanor, perfect for a relaxing time. The group sauntered into town, and after some helpful locals directions they arrived at the Inn which also held the famed hot springs of the town.

The building was built in a style that had been seldom seen in the towns passing, but was not totally absent from the numerous towns they had passed. It was built with colored woods and papers, shingled roofs with ornate figure, and colored stone walls. Entering through an open door, they approached a woman manning a counter.

"Welcome to Shima Baths, would you patrons wish for a day pass for the baths or would you like to stay the night?"

"Would this suffice for a night stay?" Arminus asked before dumping 10 gold coins onto the table.

"Do you have any Ryo, sir?" The woman asked quizzically staring at the pile

"Whats that?"

"It's money, it looks like this?" The woman pulled out one of paper pieces, they had gotten at the beginning of the mission. None of them actually knew how to use them so they ignored them and used their gold coins.

"Huh, yeah. Caius do you have those?" Caius had become the packrat of the group so, whenever someone didn't have something he was the obvious possessor.

"Yea, here they are," He pulled out some of the pieces of paper and handed them to his mentor.

"Will this be sufficient?" Arminus said laying down a wad of paper.

"More than enough. Here let me take this and you keep the rest," the woman took a couple bills and left the rest on the counter. "Here are your room keys. The baths can be accessed on the door on your right, also our baths are mixed."

"That will definitely not be a problem" Varus responded with a smile as he headed towards to the hot springs entrance.

"Sweet!" Furianus yelled and began to speedily make his way to the hot spring entrance.

"Caius you coming? Or are you going to be a pansy and sit in the room the whole time."

"I'll come just let me put all the stuff in the room."

"Boys, meet at our rooms, an hour before sundown," Arminus yelled before heading off to his room.

Caius strolled around the inn, until he found the room his friends would be staying in. Open the door with the key and set his pack down. The weight having been greatly reduced by the storage scroll, but it was still a relaxing ritual to set down the pack.

Caius frowned, he hadn't had the time to go through the book he bought from the rat-faced man. After the bath, he promised himself to go through the whole book. For now it was time to bathe and cleanse the body. He picked up the key and left the room, locking the door behind him. He walked slowly to the bath entrance, his sandals making a tapping noise as the iron nails on the bottom collided with the wood floors.

The entrance to bathing room was different from those in rome, but that was to be expected. The room held several wooden cubbies to hold the clothes and everything a patron would have on hand. Caius sighed, before stripping off his clothing and placing it in a cubbie. He picked up a towel and hobbled his way over to entrance into the water. The bath was built upon a pool of stones, with the surrounding area being that of stones as well. This inner bath was built with a passageway to the outer bath, long strips of cloth fell from the roof of the passageway to almost waterlevel. They must have acted as steam insulators! Caius waded through the water and passed through the cloth drapes.

The sun was bright, and he shielded his eyes before they adjusted and he had a good look around. There were plenty of old people relaxing, young people awkwardly joking around and adults conversing. He picked out Furianus attempting to hit on girls, he didn't understand Furianus's lust for women. Cato and Muscius were talking in a group of friends, although Cato did most of the talking while Muscius would make one line quips that were sometimes funny. His mentor and the other adults were talking in a group having a relaxing time.

As he stood in the water that reached up to his chest, Caius felt all the strength… no more like tension seep from his body, his legs became wobbly as he waded over to an edge where an underwater bench lay, he sat upon it and let his head lay back on the stones. His eyes fell shut, but his mind remained active. He simply listened to the noise: the water flowing, the people talking, and the wind whispering. He began to assemble imaginary structures in his head: statues of gods, massive aqueducts, great walls that stretched to the sky, and whole cities built perfectly. He was at ease.

He lay in his mindful sleep, until a set of new sounds and movements disturbed his tranquility, the voice of an old man and a young woman talking. They conversed about lewd things, under hushed voices. If Caius had been more awake he would have been annoyed, but his mind was still fogged over, he only bothered to twitch a finger. The man and woman talked on and on before the woman left the old man, by himself. Sighing, the old man seemed to slump into the water.

"Heh, the sight of a lovely woman is never unwelcome. Wouldn't you say kid?" The old man announced.

Caius opened his eyes and scanned the area, he saw no one else near. The old man must have been referring to him.

"I don't know. I guess?"

"You must be a foreigner," Caius shifted into a sitting position lifting his head off the ground.

"What makes you think that," Caius said, blinking the tired out of his and getting a good look at his acquaintance. He was a semi-old man with a lot of white hair and red paint lines on his face.

"Well, you guys certainly don't look like locals. Plus, you don't think no one is talking about the 8 foreigners that look like the rumors of the new people that crushed the combined armies of Wind, Lightning and Earth. Thats bound to get people talking, plus I am reporter. I pick out the oddities, they always have the best stories to tell. By the way my name is Dachi Gennai," he held out his hand.

Caius took it and shook, "Caius, Caius Nonus. So what does a reporter do anyway?"

"Wow, you guys really are foreigners! A reporter is a person who travels around and learns about news that is going around, we then go back and publish for everyone to read. Do you think you could answer some questions for me?" Jiraiya said as he pulled out a notepad and began to scribble furiously.

'This guy is kinda wierd, better make sure Arminus is ok with me taking to this weirdo.'

"Could you hold on a second? I gotta ask my mentor if this is ok,"

"Sure," Caius stood up and waded over to where Arminus and the other adults were still conversing. Explaining the situation, Arminus followed Caius back over to Dachi.

"Hello Mr. Dachi, my name is Arminus and from what I hear you want to interview my apprentice about us being foreigners, excuse my self-interest, but what do we get out of this if anything?"

"Well, how about a trade then, you tell me about yourselves; your people, your history, your intent. And, I'll give you an insiders look into the many places I have been to, and give you some contacts in high places," Dachi said.

"We'll take it. How about my apprentice talks to you now, and later we can listen to what you have to say over, wine and food," Arminus said holding out his hand. Dachi took and they shook.

"Alright, Caius, be polite and answer Mr. Dachi's questions," Arminus said before he waded back to his spot.

"Well, Nonus-san would you like to begin? Firstly, I want to know, do you guys have smoking hot women where you are from?" Dachi stared intently his pen in hand, his eyes completely serious.

'He's a weirdo, oh well, he seems like a smart weirdo'

"Um, I guess so?" Caius responded exhaled.

"Is everyone where you from as lanky as you?"

"I'm not lanky, I'm normal," Caius responded.

"Huh, really? What did they feed you back home?"

* * *

3 Hours later and Dachi finished asking all his questions. Mostly they were all about irrelevant things like diet, holidays, and women. The sun now hung above the horizon, and the rest of the group with Dachi as leader. They traveled in town in search of a restaurant. Finding one, the group took a large booth, and discussed the events of the day.

"No Cato, I'm serious. I swear this girl was into me," Furianus claimed with boastfulness of a greek hero.

"If I had I coin for every time you said that, I would go buy you a prostitute. Then you wouldn't have to keep imagining things," Cato replied smugly.

"Shut up, you're just jealous of my appeal to all women," Furianus snapped back.

"Did you confuse all women with just your mother?" Cato retorted. The argument continued on from there with them trading insults. Caius was too exhausted from the questioning, and merely listened to the two bicker and ate his meal. The adults ate while conversing and joking, Musicus read a book, and Cato and Furianus continued their argument.

Filling his belly, Caius laid back and closed his eyes. Feeling his body begin to succumb to exhaustion, he smiled he would be able to sleep well tonight in the hotel. All the noise faded and sleep overtook him. After what felt like 3 minutes, he was disturbed.

"Hey Caius wake up, Caius wake up, Caius, CAIUS!" Furianus was incessantly tapping him on the shoulder.

"What!" he yelled in irritation, as he sat up. A unwanted second wind of energy hit him and he lost all desire for sleep.

'Wonderful, now I probably won't sleep tonight'

"Lets go for a walk, the stupid adults are still drinking, and I'm bored," Furianus responded.

"We're going too, so you won't stab yourself from having to listen to him for too long" Cato added. Muscius nodded in agreement. The group left the restaurant, and returned to the inn where they dropped off some of their stuff. Caius took his knapsack which had a metal canteen, a rain cloak, and the sealing scroll. The group departed guided by the light of a full moon and the main road up to a nice hill that overlooked the valley.

Following the road they walked at a leisurely pace, Cato was first to speak.

"That Dachi guy seems really weird, what kinda questions did he ask you"

"Just stupid stuff about what we eat, women and all the famous stories," Caius replied.

"Sounds like Furianus, maybe you aren't just a freak of nature after all. Congratulations Furianus," Cato said with biting sarcasm.

"Oh yeah, guys I had a great idea for using the power. What if we can use it to throw fire" Furianus mused.

"What do mean?" Caius asked.

"I mean when you set your hand on fire, what if we can do that without the cloak" Furianus added on.

"Well thats just a great idea besides the fact, that fire burns and burning your hand hurts." Caius replied.

"If we determine the exact properties of the power, then we could possibly coat our hand from being burned by the fire. Although we have not experimented with the power enough to determine if that is possible", Musicus interjected.

"Well, then we should do that. I want to be able throw fire," Furianus mumbled, "Race you guys to top of the hill!" Furianus took off like a horse as he rushed up the road.

"I'll show you who's fast" Cato yelled as he started running.

"Come on guys, be fair! " Caius yelled as he took off. Muscius simply sighed and followed in concert. The boys ran up the hill like never before.

"Oophm," Furianus grunted as he hit a tall man, and fell on his back.

"Watch where you run child, it might be into jaws of a snake. If you aren't careful," The tall man hissed out. The man was wearing all black and also had a wide brimmed hat that

"Who ya calling child!" Furianus yelled as he jumped up and got up in the face of the tall man.

"Furianus, shut up! Sorry sir for my friend who is very inconsiderate," Cato attempted to stick his hand over Furianus mouth and pull him back from the confrontation.

"Apologize for calling me a child! I'm a full blown soldier, you're just a farmer!" Furianus yelled shaking off Catos hands.

"Ku Ku Ku, boy, you throw your weight around like it means something, but oh you're just a fish out of water who believes he can breath," he taunted

"Shut up!" Furianus screamed. His fist smashed into the tall man's pasty white face, but

it was unmoved, and now he could see the deranged smile plastered across his face.

"And now he learns he is due for the skewer!" The man yelled. Caius saw a sparkle near the man's hand.

'Its a knife! He'll kill Furianus' A voice shouted in Caius's mind. Caius threw his left hand on to Furianus and yanked down and backward. Furianus fell backward simultaneously as the pasty man struck out with his knife, hitting the spot where Furianus's neck had been just a quarter of a second ago. Caius held Furianus from fully falling on the ground. Caius eyed Cato reaching out and trying to grab the knife of pasty man, while Muscius brought his fist from the left into the man's face.

"TOO SLOW!" The man twisted his head and twisted his body left, totally dodging both attacks from the scipio brothers and brought his foot in an spin kick that caught Cato and Musicus in head and sent them both flying 20 feet sideways before they fell back to the ground and rolled to a stop. He brought his hand sideways and then stabbed downward into Furianus vulnerable Abdomen, Caius responded by increasing his grip and using his power to rotate his foot around him and hurl Furianus with all his might to where Cato and Musicus were recovering from their blow.

Caius paid for his rescue when he felt the steel blade cut deeply into thigh, but ultimately fail to implant itself.

"AHHH," he screamed in pain before gathering enough of his wits and making a massive jump to where his friends stood, watching in terror. He landed on his feet and scooted behind his 3 friends. He pulled out the scroll that had their swords and shield stored in them.

"Guard me, I'll unseal our weapons!" Caius yelled before his hand began to speed through the scroll unsealing 4 shields and 3 regular swords, and his special sword. He quickly fastened the shield strap to his forearm and grasped the handle before grasping his sword, his friends had all done the same, and the pasty man just stood there licking the blood off of his knife.

"Hehehehe, well I think it is right that you all know who is about to end your pitiful lives, I am Orochimaru, one of the 3 Sannin, but you don't who those are. All you need to know my prey, is that I will end your lives, here now in this clearing. All that you will be able to change is how much pain, I will exert upon you, until I grant you the release of death. Your choice, my prey" He said with a sickening smile. Caius felt as if the weight of a boulder was pressing across his chest, he could breath!

'I want out! I can't stand this! Kill me'! Caius thought to himself as he couldn't move his body to respond.

"Adepto in formatione" Cato muttered, his roman tongue being a sharp contrast to language he had been hearing since he arrived in this messed-up world. It snapped him out of his terror and wiped clear, the self destructive thoughts that were eating him from inside-out.

"I will defend the back, you will form the front" Caius said as he stood behind the 3 man shieldwall the Cato, Furianus, and Musicus formed in front of him.

"So I guess you will take the unpleasant way, at least for you" Orochimaru sneered.

'Pain is only weakness leaving the body' A voice in his mind said, it was unlike any he had ever heard.

"Pain is only weakness leaving the body" Caius parroted.

Rebuffed Orochimaru only replied with "Well, we'll just see about that soon" Orochimaru suddenly disappeared in blur of movement. Caius's eyes immediately went to a swivel as he scanned the area around for sign of their assailant. He saw a rustling bush, and began to focus his eyes on it.

'Ignore that, it is a diversion!' A new voice in his head yelled out.

Complying with the advice, he turned his eyes to scan again. This time he saw a strange shadow upon a tree, although it was like any other strange shadow in a forest under a full moon, his instincts told him differently.

"Move to the left 5 paces! Rotate around me!" Caius yelled, the 3 man shield wall complied. As soon as they had finished moving, 3 objects smashed into Furianus's shield. Orochimaru dashed from his shadow, a knife in hand. He dashed at ungodly speed, and quickly was within striking distance of the shieldwall. He lashed out with his knife at Furianus's head, but a perfectly timed and coordinated stab attempt from both Cato and Musicus, forced him to redouble and back off his strike. Several more attempts made by Orochimaru, were all forced backwards by the convergence and coordination of the 4 swords of the Romans. Muscius even managed to make a small cut on the face of Orochimaru. He simply smiled at the group, with evil and malice filled smile.

"Well, you boys are tougher prey than I thought, but not tough enough!" He began to weave his hands in strange signs before he yelled out.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" A massive burst of air smashed into the boy's formation and sent them flying at insane speeds, the boys crashed into the treeline with sickening thuds. Caius unlike his friends only hit his back on the trunk of a massive tree. His vision blurred, his head drifted around eyes loose in their sockets unable to focus and grasp anything that was around him. He could hear the laugh of Orochimaru, getting closer and closer. Caius's heart began to beat uncontrollably, as his eyes began to refocus he could see that his friends were all unconscious. The laughing was getting closer and closer, he needed help.

'Help, I need help! Help! Anyone! Please! Jupiter save me! I cannot die like this!'

'Wish granted my friend' The voice of Cincinnatus echoed in his head.

He heard a small pop in his neck, and mind exploded in chaos. Suddenly there were thousands of voices in his head, at first they were in complete chaos, but they quickly synchronised and said one thing.

'Fight! Survive!' He suddenly felt refreshed and invigorated as new power began to flow into his body. It felt clean and unified in purpose. Spurred on by the voices, his eyes focused on the lumbering figure of Orochimaru, pushing all the power to his legs and arms, he exploded forward.

"I CAN STILL FIGHT, YOU MONSTER!" Caius yelled as the distance between him and his enemy closed in a milliseconds. He struck upwards with his sword, but his enemy easily jumped upwards and evaded his sword. Pushing all the power into his legs and arms, he jumped up and smashed his shield boss into the face of his enemy. He followed up with his sword, but it was not long enough. He mind urged his sword to become longer in vain mostly, but he gawked in surprise as the sword pulled power from his body it extended and jabbed into the gut of Orochimaru. He screeched in pain, as he fell backwards sword still lodged in his gut, landing on the ground with a thud.

"YOU INSOLENT WELP, I'LL DESTROY YOU! HIDDEN SHADOW SNAKE HANDS," He yelled as snakes exploded out of his sleeves and picked Caius up and drove him into a tree with crushing force.

Caius's vision blurred as he felt himself began to be pulled under the blanket of unconsciousness. His eyes closed in, but he could still hear. He heard another person enter the clearing.

"Orochimaru! You snake! I hope you're ready to meet the shinigami, because I'll be giving you a one way ticket!" Caius thought he heard the voice of Dachi.

"Ahh, Jiraiya. I never would have guessed you have taken new apprentices seeing how your last ones worked out," He paused to laugh a bit before starting again " Oh well I would like to stay and chat, but I have to be going now. You should make sure to cleanse the poison from their systems my friend," Orochimaru remarked with his cool voice before, he left with a great whirl.

Caius blacked out after that.

He awoke to find himself in his mind space again, while Cincinnatus tossed rocks into a small puddle that stood out in otherwise utterly white mindspace. Cincinnatus threw a rock that skipped along the surface 5 times before sinking into the water.

"Congratulations kid, you have unlocked your inherent gifts of one who is an anchor of the memories of home," Cincinnatus said as a glass of wine appeared in his hand and he raised it before taking a drink.

"Huh? Powers, I get powers? What kind?" Caius asked his curiosity piqued.

"You didn't' notice? Geeze you're more pigheaded than I thought, or amnesiatic from that blow... Thinking back on it you guys did get destroyed by that Orochimaru fellow. Maybe you received some brain damage, what's 3 multiplied by 7, the square root of 9 and your name?"

"What's multiplied and square root and my name is Caius Nonus," Caius replied with a puzzled look.

"Oh right, the concept of multiplication and square roots didn't really exist back then, well in that case," Cincinnatus raised his hand and pointed dramatically to the nonexistent sky "I can teach you everything!"

"You?"

"Well not me specifically, but the entirety of human experience!" Cincinnatus replied as he spread out his arms dramatically.

"The entirety of human experience?"

"Yes, you can tap into the entirety of human experience from Earth! That is your power since you are the anchor point of that earth's connections to this world, you are the connector to this world to another," Cincinnatus replied as he walked towards Caius.

"So if I die does everyone else get catapulted back to earth?" Caius asked.

"No, the bond between the humans would be lost, but the bond between the two universes would remain. However, all hope of ever returning would be lost,"

"Wait has this happened before? In the history of our world? Has anyone ever returned?"

Cincinnatus shook his head, "I'm sorry I don't know although I suspect so from what I have experienced in my explorations of the memories that there have been other cases where people were caught up in whatever happened to you. However, if they also went to different locations why did no one ever return? Why did not one group of people make it back? Was it really that dangerous or maybe there's something more interesting happening here," Cincinnatus said as he stood in front of Caius.

"What is it?"

"I think they were also sent to this world, but because concept of time between the two worlds is different either by nature or when the connection was established, you and your group arrived here first, and maybe even more groups of people who were lost to the world might start appearing. The fact of the matter is that things are going to get a lot more complicated," Cincinnatus replied. A gentle wind began to blow.

"It looks like you're going to be waking up again, good luck," Cincinnatus said as he covered his eyes from the rapidly picking up wind.

"Wait! But I have so many more questions!" Caius yelled back.

"I'll still be here, but we can only talk during your sleep. Now you gotta head back!" Cincinnatus yelled as he kicked Caius in the stomach.

"Damn you!" Caius yelled before his head hit the imaginary floor. His eyes shot open as he drew in a short breath.

"Woah, calm down there kid." Jiraiya said as he opened a container and poured a liquid from it into a cup.

"Wheres my friends? What happened to Orochimaru?" Caius asked in rapid fire, his memories of the fight hazy.

"Your friends are unhurt besides some scrapes and bruises, mostly because of how you stood up against Orochimaru. You should feel proud for he is an opponent that not even the best ninja would like to fight" Jiraiya replied.

"Wait did you watch us fight him!?" Caius asked, his voice rising.

"I only arrived after Orochimaru used that technique and was walking to kill you, before I could act you attacked first. After he pinned you I arrived he backed off, I picked up you and all your friends and brought them back to the inn and flushed the poison from your body. Your friends were not shy in describing the events. Now drink this," Jiraiya said as he offered up the cup.

Caius drank it, it was strong tasting liquid. It wasn't bad just different. "Wait I was poisoned? When?"

"When he used those snakes to bash you against the tree, you didn't notice?"

"Not really"

"Listen, Caius from what I heard and saw you and your friends all have real talent and could become wonderful shinobi. My real name is Jiraiya, and I am the spymaster of Konoha, The Village Hidden in the Leafs. I would like to train you and your friends to become shinobi. They all agreed, and same with your guardian. You don't need to make a decision tonight, just think about it. Now go to sleep goodnight kid," Jiraiya said as he left the room, and extinguished the lantern.

Caius sighed as eyes shut and he was coaxed to sleep by the silence.

He woke again in his mindspace, looking around he found Cincinnatus sitting in chair next to a table with an open chair. A cup of juice and a plate of bread rolls sat on the table.

"Oh your back, join me Caius for we have much to discuss. I hear that Jiraiya man is looking to make you a shinobi, do you think you will accept his proposition?" Cincinnatus said as Caius walked over.

"I guess, I mean I can still be an architect and a warrior or shinobi, whatever its called. Plus, with people like that Orochimaru man around, I think the best way to be safe is to be strong," Caius said as he sat down, and took a roll and ate it.

"In that case, I will not only have to prepare you in ways of knowledge, but also in the ways of war. In that case let's get started now, go stand on that step," Cincinnatus pointed to a cylinder that had risen out of the ground to ankle level.

"Alright, what exactly is this going to do?" Caius asked as he stood up and walked over and stood on the platform.

"You can access all the experiences of humanity, so you're going to be thrust into and going to experience the event and learn by doing," Cincinnatus said standing up from the chair.

"So I relive a battle and fight in it? Which one?"

"Cannae have fun," Cincinnatus said with a disturbing grin.

"Wha?!" The platform dropped and Caius did with it. It descended through a pitch-black shaft. It's descent was speeding up and soon the light from the top was impossible to see. Soon Caius was just sitting on the platform as it descended; soon the platform began to slow its descent. Eventually coming to a stop, Caius stood in complete darkness and silence.

*Click

Light blinded Caius as he rose his hands to cover his face, they felt weighed down. His nose picked up smells that he remembered quite well, death. His ears were barraged with noise. Blinking the world came into view, he found himself surrounded by men armed to the teeth, and they were all yelling, some in terror and others in anger. The area around him was completely cramped and moving was near impossible.

"Publius!" A hand grabbed him on the neck and swung him towards him. It was an officer, whose name he didn't know.

"What!" Caius yelled back.

"The damn Carthaginians have fully encircled the army, the moral has collapsed and many simply resigned with death, I want you to reorganize those that are willing so we set up a better defense once those Carthaginians cut through that last maniple, " The officer's face was full of anger, and grim resolve.

Caius blinked for a bit, he really was reliving the greatest tragedy in Roman history and now he had to survive.

"Lets break out!" Caius yelled back. He had learned of how a few soldiers had survived by breaking out of the encirclement, maybe now he could repeat their feat of history.

"The gods have abandoned us to our fate there is no point, we can only kill more of those damn Carthaginians," the officer yelled back.

"They are coming prepare yourself for death!" Another officer yelled before the sounds of battle closed in. Caius heard pained yells as the Carthaginians slowly cut through the massive group of troops. Maybe 30 minutes later Caius could see the enemy cutting through the defenseless Romans. His blood began to boil in an unending rage as he watched them get closer through a sickening slaughter as they cut through layer after layer of solder.

10 men away the screams were getting louder.

9 men away he could start to smell the blood and sweat on the Carthaginians

7 men away he could make out the designs on the armor of the cavalry.

4 men away he could fell the troops in front him pushing back

2 men away he saw the color of the eyes of the enemy who slew the third man.

1 man away blood splattered on his face from the man in front of his arm.

0 men away.

Caius now in a second was facing a Carthaginian horsemen, eyes brown, and brow furled in frustration as if he was dealing with a rowdy farm animal. The horseman brought his sabre down on Caius, Caius was so crowded together with the army he couldn't raise his shield or sword without killing a comrade, he would have to use something else…

*Slick

The cut deeply into the light shielded left forearm of Caius, but it stopped in the bone. The cut hurt like a pain Caius had never felt before, but he ignored it. Screaming Caius grabbed the back blade with his right hand having dropped his sword and pulled with all his might. The horseman wasn't tied down to his horse and he had held on to the sword in shock instead of letting go. He pulled off his horse and fell into the group of Romans, and there he was an easy target.

Grabbing his Gladius and dropping the sabre he swiped at the horse who panicked and fled. He walked into the pocket he made giving breathing room to the man behind him.

"Follow me!" He yelled to those behind him. A Libyan came at him from the right, he made a slash at Caius's head. Bending his head backwards he dodge the slash and stabbed into the opening the Libyan had left, the sword rammed into his side and passed up into his chest. He collapsed to the ground and Caius advanced into his spot. The with space opening up the Romans behind him had started to reform into a cohesive line and were fending off the attacks of the Carthaginians and killing a few more.

Caius fought off attacks left and right and killed those around him with somewhat ease. The tired out troops of Hannibal were no match for his fresh vigor and desperation. He was giving a cheer to the Romans behind him when he was shot in the neck with an arrow and clutching his throat he died in pain.

'_Is this what death feels like?'_ He thought before he expired.

*Click

He found himself clutching his neck in front of the horseman he had thrown to the ground.

'_Is that what he felt when he died?'_ Caius shuddered at the thought. In front of him was the Libyan he had killed before. He repeated what he had done before, and began to fight like he had before, but always keeping his shield between him and the archers when he had the chance.

*Clang

A arrow hit his shield and was stopped instantly.

'_One death avoided.'_ He thought in satisfaction before a sword hit him the gut and he collapsed and died again. The pain of death wasn't as bad as it was before. Caius awoke before the Libyan.

'_Time to try again' _He thought before he got to the bloody work. Sometimes he would hesitate to strike, remember the pain of death, but then he himself would be killed. He died many times, but for each death he learned a lesson. He got better, fast. The longer and longer he lived and the more and more Carthaginians he wounded or killed the more successful his comrades would be. On the 70 cycle he had lived an extra long time and killed more than usual, and his comrades had organized faster than in the past.

"Lets go!" A man behind him yelled and an area that had only held 25 men who had reformed soon swelled to hundreds. Caius found himself in front of the column as he cut through enemy after enemy as he lead his group into a breakout. As more men expanding into the free space reformed, the area began to expand as the reformed Romans began to pose a threat the weak line of Carthaginians that had surrounded them began to dissolve as the weight of all the Romans escaping from the pressure put on them swelled in the free space and became an effective combat force.

Soon almost 10,000 men had reformed unharassed by the Carthaginians and a brave centurion wheeled around and organized the men and led another attack on the slowly dissolving encirclement Carthaginians. The now reformed legions armed with a unquenched fury for blood now sliced through the Carthaginians liked a knife through butter. Unable to disengage from the trapped Romans they had so soon easily trapped, they were now unable to escape from the vengeance and fury of the Romans. Once the battle was effectively over Caius sat down on the wide-open field and was overtaken by exhaustion. He took a deep breath and exhaled, his eyes were flooded with light.

He blinked, he was in his mind space again and Cincinnatus sat the table reading a book.

"You turned the battle of Cannae around, Congratulations," He said in an unenthused tone as he read a book.

"Is… Is that what my power lets me do?" Caius asked his voice stuttering a bit.

"It's not only that, but it lets you pull on the experiences of others. What you will now see is the other major part," A man appeared and a blackboard shimmered into existence right in front of table.

"Ah Jim you're here," Cincinnatus said, putting down his book.

"Yes, what do you need of me?" The man replied.

"Can you teach young Caius the fundamentals of math, like 3rd grade level stuff," Cincinnatus said picking up his book.

"Fundamentals of math?" Caius asked.

"Yeah, what you learned is completely deficient compared to what you're going to be taught, now shut up and listen," Cincinnatus said as he flipped a page in his book.

The man called jim cleared his mouth.

"Shall we get started, first we have to go over the 10 basic numbers of math zero, one, two and ect," Jim started by writing on the blackboard.

"Excuse me?" Caius said as he hand shot up, Jim turned and looked at him.

"What's zero?"

"That is use of zero, and a modern mathematical system using places and place holders. Does it make sense?" Jim said with immense exasperation.

"Sure?" Caius responded.

"Good. Then I will be leaving," Jim said before he and his blackboard vanished.

"So did you learn stuff?" Cincinnatus disinterestedly asked as he read.

"Yeah, but that guy was mean. Anyway is that the other ability of my power?"

"Yep, you can also call specific people to recount their knowledge to you. Oh, there is one last ability, but it's not important right now,"

"What is it?' Caius asked. The a breeze began to blow softly.

"Its not important right now, don't worry about it. Now it looks like its time for you to go sooo," Cincinnatus inched forward.

"Wait don't kick me yet!" Caius fidgeted with his hands a bit before he continued, "What does death feel like? I mean like is what I felt when I was killed or was it worse?"

"Don't worry about it, you have a day ahead of you" Cincinnatus replied a little more empathy leaking into his voice than normal.

"But I want t-" Caius tired to probe more, but Cincinnatus kicked him the stomach. He fell back.

Caius woke up in his room. His leg ached, but nothing unmanageable.

"Hello?" his voice croaked out, his throat parched. Caius stood up on wobbly feet and opened his canteen in his bag and drank greedily. His thirst quenched he stood up and walked out to find the rest of his group eating breakfast in a dining hall.

"Caius your awake, how do you feel?" Arminus asked concern present in his voice his voice.

"I'm fine, my leg is a little sore, but I'm fine," Caius said as he helped himself to some bread.

"We can rest another day if you're hurt, and-" Arminus began to offer, but was cut off by Caius's hand.

"It's fine, I just will need to carry less and I should be healed up by tomorrow," Caius said in between bites of his food.

"Well, in that case since you all know the truth about me, how about I take you guys to my hidden village and you can have a tour and meet the Hokage." Jiraiya said.

"I want to go" Furianus immediately said.

"Count me along with him" Cato added.

"I agree" Musicus mumbled. Caius nodded along.

Arminus sighed. "Alright, we'll go with Jiraiya's plan,"

"We leave in 30 minutes, get everything you need done, then we are heading out," Jiraiya said.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Post Chapter Notes

Here is yet another chapter. A computer crash killed the 4th draft and it took a while to rewrite, but I feel it was worth it. As always an comments related to characterization, dialog, and story direction are appreciated. Next chapter we will begin to explore Konoha and the current situation there. Also thank you for reading. Reviews positive or negative always welcome.


End file.
